Hot Topic: Ensuring a Sustainable World

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – 14 April 2009 – IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association and its members, are collaborating with organizations from around the world to educate and address key issues surrounding sustainability ranging from energy and resources both natural and man-made, to the technologies that are needed to overcome many of today’s most pressing sustainability problems. 

Issues of sustainability are of major interest to society, as well as to IEEE members, as they involve critical issues across political, economic and technological advancement. In fact, according to the United Nations Environment Programme, international scientific reports such as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Global Environmental Outlook and the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, there is evidence that makes it increasingly apparent that the world cannot achieve sustainable economic growth without significant innovation in both the supply (production) and demand (consumption) sides of the market.  IEEE members are working at the center of several sustainability initiatives, participating in efforts that address:

• providing sustainable and affordable electricity to underdeveloped nations;
• energy harvesting, such as wind energy, hydroelectric power and wind turbines;
• developing second generation biofuels and other alternatives to gasoline;
• managing CO2 emissions;
• water harvesting, water resources, etc.;
• geothermal heating and its effects on the environment;
• deforestation and detection technologies;
• smart grid technologies and their importance for reducing the carbon footprint; and
• understanding the aging energy workforce, and how it will create a void of qualified professionals to address sustainability issues.

“As an association, IEEE and its members are globally engaged to solve issues of sustainability – from systems development to engineering future technologies that will advance sustainable resources that benefit humanity,” said Deepak Divan, IEEE Fellow, and President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society. “Many people do not realize or understand that there are places around the globe with inadequate infrastructure, resulting in an inability to harvest and utilize local energy resources. It is this fact that continues to be an impetus for many of us within IEEE, to work hand-in-hand with globally underdeveloped communities and ensure they get the tools and resources necessary to generate new power sources required to enable their society to thrive.”   

Focused on global sustainability issues, IEEE and its members are providing education, developing new technologies and taking action, today. A few activities IEEE is involved in include:

• 2009 IEEE President John Vig created the President’s Sustainability Initiative (PSI) which will contribute IEEE’s expertise to the public dialogue  and increase awareness of IEEE members’ work involving sustainable issues to benefit humanity.
• IEEE is creating a platform for discussion on sustainable energy and sustainable world topics at an array of conferences in 2009. Saifur Rahman, IEEE Power & Energy Society - Vice President for New Initiatives and Outreach, will be speaking at Energy Camp, taking place in Las Vegas on May 18, 2009.  Barry Zhou, IEEE Fellow and Professor at Wuhan University, presented at the Asia Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference (APPEEC), in Wuhan, China March 28-30.
• IEEE released an eight-minute video to explain why the smart grid is important for reducing the carbon footprint.  The video features highlights from several IEEE conferences, including Energy 2030 held in Atlanta, Ga., in November 2008, as well as interviews with several power and energy experts from around the world.

If you are looking for resources and experts to provide insightful commentary on sustainable world and sustainable energy topics, please contact IEEE at ieee-PR@ruderfinn.com.

About IEEE

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.), the world’s largest technical professional society, is commemorating its 125th anniversary in 2009 by “Celebrating 125 Years of Engineering the Future” around the globe. Through its more than 375,000 members in 160 countries, IEEE is a leading authority on a wide variety of areas ranging from aerospace systems, computers and telecommunications to biomedical engineering, electric power and consumer electronics. Dedicated to the advancement of technology, IEEE publishes 30 percent of the world’s literature in the electrical and electronics engineering and computer science fields, and has developed nearly 900 active industry standards. The organization annually sponsors more than 850 conferences worldwide. Additional information about IEEE can be found at ieee.org.